Hip Resurfacing

I am putting this out there as sort of a public service announcement.
on nov 15th i had my right hip resurfaced by Dr Edwin Su at the hospital for special surgery in nyc. it is the same operation that floyd landis had on sept 27th. I had been having pain for over 10 years and although i still ran marathons till 2002 and than switched to cycling and have been doing endurance events the last 4 years , i have had a lot of pain. riding wasnt so bad but walking was getting more and more dificult and just getting dressed and getting shoes on was extremely painful. I was operated on at 3pm on wed the 15th and i left the hospital on fri the 17th at noon. i was on 2 crutches for 11 days and than a cane for 5 more days. i started riding indoors on day 11 and i started indoor rowing on day 15. it is now day 27 and i just finished a road ride of 45 miles with 3000ft of climbing and 15% grades in 3 hrs.not super fast ,but i didnt expect to be outside riding again till after the winter, so im pretty happy. also walking and getting dressed never felt so good.
i prepared for the surgery as if i was training for a race so i was in pretty good shape and since i got back on the bike relatively soon after the operation my conditioning is still pretty good.
this is a relatively new operation in the us but it has been done in belgium and india for the last 12 years. there is a very helpful website called surfacehippy.com.
i urge you , if you or someone you know is thinking of having a total hip replacement check out hip resurfacing first. if you have any question feel free to email me.

Congrats

Great to hear that you are doing so well.
I have had a few patients come through with the resurfacing, by far you were probably in the best physical shape going into the surgery and it has definately paid off for you in your recovery.

Hip Resurfacing

Good to hear you recovered so quickly.
I am 42 years young and on the 23rd October I also had a Burmingham Hip resurfacing operation (left hip). My surgeon was Dr Greg Stackpool from Wollongong, NSW, Australia. The main cause of my demise was Ostioarthritis from many years of distance running helped along by a few years of motorcross and nemerous stacks on the motorbike and in more recent times my xc bike. I was also in pain and unable to walk more than a few hundred meters but during this year I was able to push on racing cross county at club level (Masters 3 & 4).In recent times things were getting worse and riding was starting to become too much. Unlike yourself I was not as fit going into the opp as I would only clock up about 3 to 4 rides a week (1off road) and a total of about 100 ks and had extremely poor flexibility.
I was in hospital for a full 7 days, using a single crutch at the 7 day mark but was not able to completely ditch the crutch untill the 24th day.
For rehab I was swimming and walking in the pool 4 to 5 days a week from the start of week 3. The pool work helped immensely and was the best exercise for me to gain strength and movement without too much pain. I got on the bike on a mag trainer after 5 weeks (I was unable to bend forward and grab the bars) and now at 8 weeks I have been for three 25k rides on the road in the last week.
My doctor tells me I will be able to head off road again in another 4 weeks where it is expected that recovery will be at around 90%.
In short I am nothing but rapt with the lack of joint pain and progress to date is good with a clear indication of being able to race again next season (starts feb 07).
At age 42 the main benefit for me of the hip resurfacing over a full replacement is the ability to ride my bike offroad (handle mild impacts) and if the joint wears out over time it is generally thought that a revision of a resurfaced hip is easier that the full replacement.

So to add weight to your recommendations, I too can suggest that if anyone who wants to stay as active as possible and is in need of hip surgery, take a look at resurfacing and hopefully it is suitable for them.

Also check out Arthro surface's Femural and Humeral Hemi-Arthroplasty results. This is a relitively new procedure but the results have been amazing and recovery time is greatly reduce when compaired to some other joint replacement procedures. It's a great alternative if the damage is located only on the head of the bone.

Knees also?

Is this the same as the resurfacing procedure I haveheard of for knees, where they basically take "plugs" of good material and put it where the surface has worn through? (for a non-med, non-tech explanation)

I am 54 with pretty much just plain worn out knees from a lifetime of biking. I am in constant pain, but still pretty much mobile. Definitely looking at what options I might have in a few years.

I have seen an operation recently "advertised" that talks about the knee "plugs" and supposedly Dr. Angelo at the local Evergreen hospital(Kirkland WA) is one of the better experts at it.

I have been wondering how well this sort of thing works out for cyclists,and its supposed to be MUCH less trauma than a knee replacement.

Microfracture

Originally Posted by Twisted Trail

Is this the same as the resurfacing procedure I haveheard of for knees, where they basically take "plugs" of good material and put it where the surface has worn through? (for a non-med, non-tech explanation)

I am 54 with pretty much just plain worn out knees from a lifetime of biking. I am in constant pain, but still pretty much mobile. Definitely looking at what options I might have in a few years.

I have seen an operation recently "advertised" that talks about the knee "plugs" and supposedly Dr. Angelo at the local Evergreen hospital(Kirkland WA) is one of the better experts at it.

I have been wondering how well this sort of thing works out for cyclists,and its supposed to be MUCH less trauma than a knee replacement.

Just curious....for now

It sounds to me like you are thinking of microfracture or micortrauma. This is a procedure that is done to the knee surface (femoral). Essentially what is done is a drilling or sometimes even taking plugs out of the knee cartilage/bone. This will make the bone blead and cause a scabbing over the surface. This scabbing will essentially turn into scar tissue and act as a poor man's cartilage. It is not cartilage and will never be as good as a prestine knee, but sometimes it will help an individual in the short to mediate time range.
It certainly may be an option for you if you have significant degeneration to the joint surfaces and you are likely too young to be a good candidate for a TKA.

Knee plugs

Originally Posted by BoiseBoy

It sounds to me like you are thinking of microfracture or micortrauma. This is a procedure that is done to the knee surface (femoral). Essentially what is done is a drilling or sometimes even taking plugs out of the knee cartilage/bone. This will make the bone blead and cause a scabbing over the surface. This scabbing will essentially turn into scar tissue and act as a poor man's cartilage. It is not cartilage and will never be as good as a prestine knee, but sometimes it will help an individual in the short to mediate time range.
It certainly may be an option for you if you have significant degeneration to the joint surfaces and you are likely too young to be a good candidate for a TKA.

I am definitely NOT a doctor, but I am virtually sure the fairly new procedure takes good material (cartilage?) out of a GOOD spot and puts it as a plug into the worn through spots, NOT just drilling holes and letting them backfill with scar tissue. Basically you end up with a bunch of bearing points of good material (sorta like multiple rows of headset bearings?) for the mating bone to ride on.

I figure I have a few years for whatever technology to get better perfected or maybe even knew techniques to come up before I MUST get my knees repaired. But that is why I am tracking ANY leads I can find on the subject, just to see how the technology evolves.

It’s basically a stainless “cap” and Ti fixator.
The injured area needs to be at the head (the “ball end”) of the bone and the joint cavity needs to be in pretty good shape.
They countersink an area 20-45mm in diameter and about 5mm deep.
Then they insert the fixator….the best way I can describe it is a set screw with a tapered hole through the middle.
The “cap” has a post on the bottom that press fits into the hole of the fixator.
Pretty cool stuff.

Boise Boy,
I have read this and your other posts on the hip. I just had my pre-op meeting with my Doc...errr his PA. While I like and trust my Ortho much his PA was very condescending which brings me to my question. She said no "toe in" . I run Eggbeaters on my mtb and Speed Plays on the road. I asked about clipping in/out and she simply siad not to do it! RIGHT! Your opinion?

Update

Originally Posted by BoiseBoy

Great to hear that you are doing so well.
I have had a few patients come through with the resurfacing, by far you were probably in the best physical shape going into the surgery and it has definately paid off for you in your recovery.

Keep us posted periodically with your progress, pain, setbacks...

BB,

The BHR for me is unreal! I am 55. The procedure was preformed April 18th. I started out of home PT a week ago Monday and on a stationary bike...NO PAIN, actually turning pedals, not since OCT '06! I am jazzed. Thanks for your email back. I would recommend this to anyone. Yes I know we are all different, but I'll be back on my bike soon!

I just saw this old thread and thought I'd check in on how everyone is doing with your hips these days. Beepostar, yours must be one of the first in the country. I'm going in with Dr Marwin at NYU Joint Disease Hospital on Nov 15 of this year for Bilaterals (both the same day) and I can't wait to get it over with and get back to doing what I do. Like you I was a runner, triathlete and finally mountain bike racer until the arthritis in my hip finally stopped everything this past spring. They are more conservative these days so I won't be running or mountain biking for six months but I probably will be allowed outside on the road bike after two months: outside on the roadbike in January in NY? After waiting so long, you bet I'll be out there!

My mother had this surgery performed in Scotland about 8 years ago when she was 63. (At that point the oldest person to have the resurfacing surgery performed!) She works to keep fit and has had no further issues with the hip joint since then.

I had my bilateral hip resurfacing on November 15, 2011 and it has been amazing. I stayed in the hospital for nine days total, three days on the surgical floor and six days in the Rusk Rehab Center. I was up for a very short walk the next day with a walker. I was on one crutch at 5 days. I was on the stationary bike at 6 days. Kicking a soccer ball with no hand holding on at 7. I started PT three days a week as soon as I got home and started pool workouts at three weeks. In the pool I'm doing 30 minutes of aqua-jogging, 10 min of walking in the shallow water then 20 minutes freestyle with a pull buoy and today I'll start to kick with a kick board and fins. I've alternating daily between walking outside and riding on the trainer inside.

Yesterday, at 32 days, I walked 2.4 miles in 1 hour on one of the wide, flat trails near my house. It was great.